This paper investigates multistage taxes on firms in a limited tax capacity economy. We characterize the optimal taxation of informal firms reinterpreting behavioral and mechanical effects. Our numerical exercises highlight the relationship between misreporting costs and the elasticities of reported revenues and costs. We explore a tax reform in Brazil with a survey of informal firms to estimate these elasticities (0.55 and 0.94, respectively), which imply smaller sheltering costs for input expenditures. The optimal multistage tax system includes (i) differential linear taxes across the production chain and (ii) a positive, but very small, tax refund rate.

中文翻译：

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非正规企业的最优税收：误报成本和巴西的税收改革

本文研究了有限税收能力经济中企业的多级税收。我们重新解释行为和机械效应，描述了非正规企业的最优税收。我们的数值练习强调了误报成本与报告收入和成本的弹性之间的关系。我们通过对非正规企业的调查来探索巴西的税收改革，以估计这些弹性（分别为 0.55 和 0.94），这意味着投入支出的庇护成本较小。最佳的多级税收制度包括（i）整个生产链的差别线性税和（ii）积极但很小的退税率。